A streaming server may establish multiple connections through a network for transmitting multimedia signals to a number of clients. A connection may traverse multiple links and the transmission properties of the connection may vary with time. To ensure preserving signal integrity as connection-state varies with time, the streaming server may adapt signals sent to a client to be compatible with current transmission limitations. In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12,180,697, filed on Jul. 28, 2008, methods for real-time connection-state evaluation and signal-content adaptation were disclosed.
In addition to the effect of transmission path conditions, the actual flow rate of data transmitted to a client may also be influenced by conditions related to the streaming server or client's equipment. Some data compression techniques may yield a data stream of a fluctuating flow rate which follows temporal signal variations. A client may be aware of the actual flow rate of received data, which may differ from a flow rate specified in a connection request. However, the client has no means of determining the flow rate of data transmitted from the streaming server or the cause of any discrepancy between the specified flow rate and the flow rate of received data. The flow rate of received data may be less than the flow rate of data transmitted from the streaming server due to data loss en route.
There is, therefore, a need to devise an informative streaming server which informs each client of time-varying flow rate of transmitted data and causes for changing the flow rate.